Mirror Room
by Mai-danishgirl
Summary: A collection of shorts with various characters in multiple Shepard-verses. Each can be read alone, but many can be connected in a minor storyline. Relativly spoilerfree
1. First contact

**First contact**

Liara had known that humans looked much like asari, of cause she knew. She had heard about it, seen the pictures, and at first written it off as just one of nature's funny coincidences.

However, meeting a human for the first time? Quite unsettling.

Doctor Charlston was ever polite, and had been very professional when introduced to her at the Annual Prothean Conference. Yet Liara had been transfixed by the so familiar facial structure, the eyes, the nose, the lips.

It had been hard to keep her thoughts strait. Luckily there had been enough differences she could focus on, and to an extent that she could fuel her unease into interest instead. The hair and the beard, not to mention the flappy ears was very fascinating, and Liara had been able to get through the night without too much discomfort. She had kept the personal questions to herself though, that was what the extranet was for.

Later on she learned of the uncanny valley effect, and concluded that this had been the source of her uneasiness. And at the time she had been pleased that it had not affected her as hard as some of the stories she would read about in the examples.

That was until Therum, that was before she was confronted to the disturbing familiarity of human women.

And now she was living onboard a ship filled with humans.

Oh well, as the old asari proverb went "If you can't stand them, try to get closer".

That was the tamer version of it though; Liara was both disgusted and rather tempted by the raunchier one.

Luckily Commander Shepard was quite the fascinating individual.


	2. Hair

Hair

Some types of animals had long fur, Batarians was covered in a short fuzz, but Humans? Liara knew they had this "hair" on top of their head, similar to her tendrils, and she knew the length could vary, but she had never anticipated just how much of it there could be hiding in the normally innocent looking "bun" tightly bound at the back of Shepards head.

"Shepard, are you alright?" Liara carefully asked.

Shepard looked up from her breakfast, giving the asari a confused look. "Eh, sure? What are you talking about?" The commander then casually brushed the sheer curtain of brown curls away from her face.

Liara suppressed the urge to squeak, it just did not look natural. The hair was utterly shrouding the human's upper body, making her head seem swollen or disfigured. By the Goddess, Liara could barely see the commander's shoulders!

"Oh, nothing Shepard, it's just..is that normal?" Liara carefully poked a stray lock curled up upon the tabletop.

"What? The hair?" Shepard chuckled, "well I guess it is not entirely protocol, but as long as I keep it in a bun it's alright. And a girl with hair like this can't help to be a little vain about it." She winked then, making the other humans at the table laugh softly.

"Well I, I mean, there is quite a lot it, isn't there?" Liara said.

"Ah, well that is true, Mum always called me her little wild lion. And this is nothing; you should see how I look after being out in the rain. I swear I look like a sheep who's been attacked by a wild dry tumbler!"

"I see." Liara had no idea of what a sheep was, definitely something she would look up, but in the meantime, she carefully slid away from the wall of hair dominating the Commanders person.

Liara really hoped humans did not have shedding seasons.


	3. Turian

Turian

It was the way he moved. She didn't get how the others could be around him so easily, not with the alien staring at them like that. Wrex wasn't so bad; he would still keep an eye on you, but more in a sullen and guarded way. Like an angry bull; if he was going to strike, you would know. But the turian? Ashley shuddered. He was a predator, through and through, all sharp lines, piercing eyes and fast movements. You would be dead before you knew it.

She had once watched a group of peacocks as a kid, silly birds actually. But the way they would look at you, suddenly twitching their heads to the side, moving so fast and mechanical that you could not fathom it. It gave her the creeps back then, and the new dinosaur movie wave did not help it. One in particular had left an imprint, the dinosaurs so avian, quick beings of sharp feathers and angular lines. Ashley had never trusted birds after that one.

And right now Garrus was looking at the commander the exact same way as the peacocks had, just like the raptors from the movie. Twitching his neck ever so lightly, but to fast, too controlled for a normal being. Those bright blue eyes; staring straight through you, sizing you up, moving at the tiniest sound or movement. Constantly alert.

Ashley wanted to tell the Commander to run, to back away before the creature got spooked, or worse; hungry. But she was a soldier, she did not interfere with whom or what the Commander decided to interact with.

But personally? She was never going to turn her back on a turian.


	4. Not exactly like I planned

It was a bird, a really really big bird.

It didn't matter that it did not have feathers, or that it lived on a ratty backwater planet, thousand of light-years away from Earth.

It had a beak, moved like an ostrich and sounded like a peacock. Consequently Ashley's brain insisted it was a bird, and she was terrified.

"Whoa, that a big one, nasty beak too." Shepard casually leaned on a nearby rock, watching the creature with mild curiosity.

"Think there are more of them?"

"I believe so," Garrus said and briefly touched his visor. "There is some life signs right behind it."

At this point the bird noticed them, cocked its head, and apparently came to the conclusion that they had invaded its territory. It puffed up, lifting the large scales on its back, stepped forward with a hissing sound, and was promptly blown to pieces by a shrieking Ashley.

"What the hell!?" Shepard turned towards the woman, who had hastily taken cover behind a large rock. Garrus, who was closer, quickly moved towards the pale faced gunnery chief, only for her to promptly lash out.

"Don't come any closer!" Ashley snarled, and then exhaled deeply, before glancing at the surprised turian. "Sorry Garrus, I know you mean well, but not right now." She shivered, "not you."

For a moment it was silent, Shepard looked at Garrus, who simply shrugged, then to Ashley, over to the corpse, and back at Ashley.

"You where afraid of it?"

Ashley slowly nodded.

"And of Garrus?"

Ashley winced before nodding again.

"Wait, what? What do I have to do with that thing?" Garrus said, waving at the bird in surprise.

Shepard sniggered, causing Ashley to look up in anger. "It is not funny commander, ornithophobia is a serious anxiety disorder."

"Oh, I don't doubt it Ashley." The commander smiled, moved over and gently padded Ashley's shoulder. "I am simply wondering whenever you had planned on ever telling us."

Ashley blushed. "Not like this." She muttered and slowly followed Shepard back to the Mako, leaving a confused Garrus in their trail.


	5. Omega

Omega almost feels real.

Not by much, but there is a faint feeling of something familiar about it. Like the sheen between her and the truth is thinner here.

It puts her on edge, and Shepard is not sure whenever she likes it, or finds it annoying that it might interfere with her universe.

Perhaps it is Aria.

The Asari is the only person who might be real, real like her. Shepard has not had the time to really test it, and she is not really sure if she wants to.

She likes being in control, loves the feeling of being the center, the One, the PC.

Only on Omega does this feeling wane, not really disappear, but gravitating, as if there is suddenly two centers instead of one.

She has wondered, really wondered about challenging it, in respect mostly. If Aria is truly Real, could they actually kill each other?

Shepard knows that she cannot die, not really, as experience has shown.

But with Aria, what would happen then?

One one hand, it would make Aria a rival. A True rival, unlike the shadows in Shepard's personal game.

On the other hand, Aria is stationary, a fixture on Omega, while Shepard is ever mobile, so why risk it?

Newer the less, Shepard is still having fun, letting the game flow as it is. So for now she simply ignores Omega, only passing by when the game demands it.

But who knows? Perhaps if she get bored, or if she ever really wants to explore the Truth.

Fighting a Real person would be interesting.


	6. Tradition

"Shepard? Are you sure this is a necessary?" Garrus sidestepped nervously as the commander walked up with her arms full of various brightly colored tubes and paper covered balls.

"Of course it is. I told you, it is New Years Eve." Then she cackled happily and began placing the rockets in the various launch tubes of unknown origin. Garrus had a feeling Gardener would recognize a few of them, and would likely not be pleased.

"New year on Earth, Shepard, this is not Earth." Miranda scowled, clearly not pleased with having been forced down on the small brown world, whose only redeeming quality was the breathable air.

"Neither was Mindor, we still celebrated it." Shepard shrugged, and then continued to inspect fuses on the large wooden boxes she had somehow hidden on the Normandy. Garrus wasn't sure, but given the way Jack kept grinning and was actually helping his crazed commander, the ex-convict likely had something to do with it.

"But this amount of explosives, isn't it a bit, you know, overkill?" Trusting the calculations of his visor, Garrus was sure that the marked safety zone really did not live up to its name.

"Not at all," the woman grinned at him, "I already told you, my home colony was founded by Danes, and our ancestors always finished the year with a bang, we saw no reason to stop the tradition just because we moved to another planet." Then she began humming a low melody, before suddenly jumping into a verse about a guy who, as much as Garrus translator could tell him, liked to bash in the skulls of his enemies.

"But, are you sure you can control it all?" Garrus still couldn't get over the fact that Shepard had chosen Jack of all people as her assistant. "Pish posh, my dad taught me all about it, and he only almost burned the barn down that one time."

It didn't take the collected crew long to hastily move far behind the supposed safety line. Even Samara was backtracking with slow, determined strides. Only Jack and Grunt was staying close to the elated commander, both nearly vibrating with joy. Grunt kept asking about the various types of firework and their potential range of destruction.

"Alright! We are ready to go now!" Even from the distance, Shepards bright eyes was visibly shining. Behind him Garrus heard Tali slowly mutter how this was sure to end in disaster, and next to him even the silent Thane was looking slightly disturbed.

Then there was a flash at the distance and Jack was hollering joyful curses. Miranda groaned. "Don't tell me she is lightening the fuses with a flamethrower."

Garrus sighed. "Of course she is."

Then there was three shapes running quickly towards the group, whooping all the way. Garrus grunted as Shepard threw herself at his arms. "This is going to be awesome!" She gasped.

And when the sky erupted in bright colors, painting the sky and cliffs in myriads of fantastic patterns, Garrus had to admit that it was very pretty, if a bit loud.


	7. Owwie

Owwie

"Doctor-Chakwas, may we ask a question?"

Chakwas lifted her head, and was surprised to see Legion standing in front of her. "Yes?" she said

"We have noticed a peculiar behavior, that, according to our databases is regarded an intimate action forwarded younger individuals, yet we have observed you use this behavioral pattern in regards to Crewmember- Zaeed, who is a fully developed human. Please explain this."

The doctor blinked and stared at the geth in confusion. "Could you be a bit more specific?" she said then.

"Of cause," Legion answered. "Crewmember- Zaeed approached you with a minor lesion on the forehead, Doctor – Chakwas then used the phrase "Zaeed got an owwie?" before treating the wound. After treatment Doctor-Chakwas uttered the phrase "See? Chakwas make the boo-boo go away" and proceeded with we have cataloged as a "kiss" on Crewmember –Zaeed forhead."

"Ah" for a short moment she felt rather flustered, her relationship with Zaeed has so for been a minor thing, most of the crew hadn't noticed. "It's a game of sorts, Zaeed and I have this connection, and treating him like a child is part of it, I suppose."

"Understood." For a moment Legions "eye" pulsated, as is it was processing the new information. Then it spoke again. "May we ask for a clarification for the words owwie and boo-boo?"

Now Chakwas couldn't help laughing. "It is a way we speak to children, if they get hurt in a minor way that really isn't a great deal, but still hurts; it is a way to bring comfort."

This time Legion was quiet for quite a while, its eye passing along the room, before focusing on the rather large hole in its own torso, seemingly complementing the damage for a moment. "So according to such a terminology, we have acquired an "owwie?"

Chakwas grinned. "Poor little Legion." And then she carefully placed her lips right on top of Legions eye.


End file.
